The Obama administration has deferred its goal for completing a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, ruling out the possibility of preparing a new agreement before the 1991 pact expires on Saturday, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 25).
"Both President Obama and President Medvedev are committed to completing a treaty by the end of the year," U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said last week.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in July to cut their nations' respective deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads, down from the 2,200-weapon limit the states are required to meet by 2012 under another treaty. The leaders also pledged to restrict strategic delivery vehicles on each side to between 500 and 1,100 (Desmond Butler, Associated Press/The Oklahoman, Nov. 26).
"It is difficult to say right now how much longer the talks will continue," Interfax quoted a source close to the negotiations as saying, according to Agence France-Presse (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 27).